FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
News from Progress Michigan
May 1, 2019
Contact: Sam Inglot, 616-916-0574, sam@progressmichigan.org
Whitmer Takes Aim at Discriminatory Car Insurance Practices
Executive order pushes state department to investigate high auto insurance rate causes
MICHIGAN — Progress Michigan lauded a decision by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer to sign an executive order asking the Department of Insurance and Financial Services to examine car insurance prices based on non-driving factors.
It’s been documented that insurance companies jack up rates for non-driving factors like gender, occupation, and homeownership. Women and people of color often pay higher rates because of these discriminatory actions.
“The problems behind Michigan’s highest-in-the-nation car insurance rates are not easy fixes, but non-driving factors like gender and occupation should not be the reason Michiganders are paying more. We applaud Gov. Whitmer for taking this common sense step to begin to get at the root of the problem,” said Lonnie Scott, executive director of Progress Michigan. “Insurance companies have been able to discriminate and redline communities and force high prices on people. It’s time we got a full sense of the problem so the state can take appropriate action to hold the insurance industry accountable and lower the damn insurance rates.”
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